The present invention relates to methods and devices for controlling the flow of exhaust gasses from internal combustion engines.
Exhaust gasses from internal combustion engines present many well known environmental and health hazards. The exhaust, gasses from diesel engines are particularly noxious and difficult to abate. Essentially, two basic abatement methods are employed.
The most common method is employed in garages and the like to redirect the diesel exhaust from the inside to the outside of a building using manually connected hoses and/or exhaust fans. Such methods, however, are neither mobile, nor do they necessarily abate the air pollution since the exhaust is merely redirected to another location.
Another common diesel exhaust abatement method is to employ an exhaust filter, typically between the manifold and the muffler of the device. Unfortunately, due to the nature of diesel engines, known filtration media tend to become saturated in a relatively short period of time. Moreover, saturated filtration media leads to increased backpressure, which can decrease engine performance and lead to engine damage.
As a result, many known filtration systems and methods for diesel engines are intended to be used only when there is an acute need to reduce noxious exhaust elements. In particular, most known systems are designed to be engaged only when a vehicle is in a garage. Typically, engagement and disengagement of the filtration equipment is accomplished manually by the operator of the equipment or is tied to certain equipment events, such as, certain engine conditions (temperature, back-pressure, etc.), engine operating time, engine start-up or entering reverse gear, thought to correlate to the appropriate filtration times. Unfortunately, the correlation between such events and conditions are very inexact and result in many circumstances where filtration equipment is disengaged when it would be desirable for it to be engaged, and vice versa. Further, the provision of a manual override is an inadequate solution because it requires operator attention to a task that may have relatively low priority to the operator.
Accordingly, there is a need for engine emission control systems that reliably engage and disengage automatically in order to create a protected zone environment at certain selected locations.
The present invention is directed to an exhaust filtration control system comprising a diverter valve, a valve actuator coupled to the diverter valve, a control switch electronically coupled to the valve actuator for switching the valve actuator between an engaged state and a disengaged state, a wireless transmitter, and a wireless receiver coupled to the control switch for receiving a signal from the wireless transmitter and for sending a signal to the control switch upon receiving a signal from the wireless transmitter.
The present invention is also directed to an exhaust filtration system retrofit kit for a diesel engine powered device, comprising a valve comprising first and second opposed openings, said first opening adapted to be coupled to an exhaust conduit of said device and said second opening adapted to be coupled to an exhaust conduit of said device, said valve further comprising a third opening adapted to be coupled to a filtration system conduit, a valve actuator coupled to the valve for moving the valve between an open state and a closed state, a control switch electronically coupled to the valve actuator for switching the valve actuator between an engaged state and a disengaged state, a wireless receiver coupled to the control switch for receiving a radio frequency signal from a wireless transmitter and for sending a signal to the control switch, and a wireless transmitter for generating a radio frequency signal.
The present invention is also directed to a method for controlling an exhaust filtration system on a device having a diesel engine, a diesel exhaust filter, a valve that directs exhaust to the filter in an engaged state and that directs exhaust away from the filter in a disengaged state, and a valve actuator that moves the valve between the engaged and disengaged states, comprising the steps of placing a radio frequency transmitter in a location where it is desired to have the filter in an engaged state if the device is present at the location and providing a radio frequency receiver coupled to the valve actuator. The receiver causes a signal to be sent to the valve actuator if the receiver receives a radio frequency signal from the transmitter and said signal causes said actuator to move the filter to the engaged state.